Dassault Systèmes’ V5 PLM Helps Evernham Motorsports Find the Winner’s Circle on NASCAR Circuit Again

Fully embracing PLM concept has turned design and simulation into a competitive advantage; team takes first place at Michigan International Speedway

Charlotte, N.C. June 21, 2006 – Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions have helped Evernham Motorsports become, in just six years, one of NASCAR’s most successful teams, the companies announced today. Dassault Systèmes solutions support every phase of Evernham’s design processes, from initial concept, to production, to post-production modifications as precise as the proper inflation for tires on different tracks.

Evernham has racked up a steadily growing record of NASCAR victories – including Kasey Kahne’s recent 3M Performance 400 and Coca Cola 600 victories on June 18 and May 28 – helped by a Dassault Systèmes-powered design operation that cuts Evernham’s production time for new engines and bodies to as little as 18 days. That short turnaround time enables Evernham Motorsports to test out new designs much faster than competing race teams. With Dassault Systèmes solutions, Evernham can produce engine designs every four months and new body configurations every two months.

“DS PLM solutions make our design process an asset out on the track,” said Evernham Motorsports founder Ray Evernham. “Our ability to create 3D models and use them in realistic simulations helps us spot issues before they can cause problems for a driver during a race. We can simulate everything from a single part’s behavior under race conditions to the ergonomic interaction between the driver and the car. That means we can head off failures, plan maintenance schedules, adapt to different track conditions – in other words, manage just about anything that might keep our drivers from running the best race they can.”

Ray Evernham is one of the most successful crew chiefs in recent NASCAR history.  With three Winston Cup championships and two Daytona 500 victories to his credit, Evernham was recently named by the media as the Greatest Crew Chief of All Time. He founded Evernham Motorsports in 1999 and began using Dassault Systèmes’ technology almost immediately. Evernham went on to notch first-place finishes in six straight years for Dodge.

Evernham Motorsports engineers develop and analyze their designs with Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA V5 3D design software and share information between the company’s four facilities through Dassault Systèmes’ ENOVIA SmarTeam product data management software. This unified solution enables engineers to design parts, assemblies and entire vehicles; test their performance under real-world heat, vibration and noise conditions; and maximize them for strength and weight, all in a time-and-cost-saving virtual environment. Full integration between all Dassault Systèmes and partner products enables design data to flow smoothly between Evernham’s design teams with no translation or manual data re-entry.

“Evernham Motorsports demonstrates the dramatic impact that fully embracing the PLM philosophy can have on a company’s fortunes” said Peter Schmitt, Dassault Systèmes vice president of marketing and communications. “They’re in an almost hyperactively competitive business, yet they were able to grow from a startup to a major force in NASCAR in just six years. PLM was a big factor in Evernham’s success because they used it in exactly the right way – to unlock their creativity and remove the limits that traditional design tools put on innovation, speed and accuracy.”